A box of seedlings...
In 1834 botanist John Edgerley gathered a handful of seeds from a Norfolk Island pine tree and boarded a sailing ship bound for the Hokianga Harbour. Those seeds became the first 'shipment' of Norfolk Pines to New Zealand. Two years later, John and Captain McDonnell journeyed to the Bay of Islands - with a box of young Norfolk pines. Captain McDonnell took the box of seedlings to Gilbert & Elizabeth Mair who owned the flourishing trading post and ship repair yard at Te Wahapu Point. Elizabeth was a busy mother with five young children (one a new baby) and she planted one of the sapling trees beside her home. Her sister-in-law Matilda took one home to Kaitaia and planted it beside her home. James Busby planted two by the Treaty House at Waitangi and many Northland Mission Stations - including Te Waimate, received a tree or two. The remaining saplings were destroyed by Gilbert & Elizabeth's young daughter...